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Song—The Dumfries Volunteers

by Robert Burns, 1795

Does haughty Gaul invasion threat?
  Then let the louns beware, Sir;
There's wooden walls upon our seas,
  And volunteers on shore, Sir:
The Nith shall run to Corsincon,
  And Criffel sink in Solway,
Ere we permit a Foreign Foe
  On British ground to rally!
We'll ne'er permit a Foreign Foe
  On British ground to rally!

O let us not, like snarling curs,
  In wrangling be divided,
Till, slap! come in an unco loun,
  And wi' a rung decide it!
Be Britain still to Britain true,
  Amang ourselves united;
For never but by British hands
  Maun British wrangs be righted!
No! never but by British hands
  Shall British wrangs be righted!

The Kettle o' the Kirk and State,
  Perhaps a clout may fail in't;
But deil a foreign tinkler loun
  Shall ever ca'a nail in't.
Our father's blude the Kettle bought,
  And wha wad dare to spoil it;
By Heav'ns! the sacrilegious dog
  Shall fuel be to boil it!
By Heav'ns! the sacrilegious dog
  Shall fuel be to boil it!

The wretch that would a tyrant own,
  And the wretch, his true-born brother,
Who would set the Mob aboon the Throne,
  May they be damn'd together!
Who will not sing "God save the King,"
  Shall hang as high's the steeple;
But while we sing "God save the King,"
  We'll ne'er forget THE PEOPLE!
But while we sing "God save the King,"
  We'll ne'er forget THE PEOPLE!

Published in Poems and Songs of Robert Burns
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